Dwight Howard has rekindled his long-standing conflict with Shaquille O’Neal, suggesting that they “go ahead and squabble” if it comes down to it.
“I’ve never disrespected him,” Howard said in reference to Shaq during his appearance on The GAUDs Show. “Nonetheless, he has frequently had something to say. There have been moments when I felt frustrated and thought, ‘Yo, Shaq, this has to end.’ I’ve even attempted to reach out to him.”
He recounted an interaction he experienced last year while participating in Dancing With the Stars, where he chatted with someone connected to Shaq who suggested they should finally settle their differences.
“At this point, I’m like, ‘Do we need to throw hands? What’s going on here?’” Dwight commented. “Because honestly, the only thing I’ve done with Shaq is mimic his voice. But what else is there to imitate? He’s Shaquille O’Neal, the most dominant center in history. Yet he keeps bringing me up. So it’s like, ‘Hey man, do we really need to take this to a physical level?’”
He continued, “What bothers me the most is his perception that I’m trying to emulate him or be like him,” Howard explained. “But if I were trying to imitate you, shouldn’t that be taken as a compliment, acknowledging your greatness as a player or a person? I’ve never sought to be Shaq at any level. However, I have admired certain aspects of his life and wanted to weave those into my own. Absolutely. I do the same with figures like Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, LeBron James, and many others.”
Shaquille O’Neal responded to Howard’s comments by taking to X, declaring that he would refrain from mentioning Howard’s name in the future.
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